Succession of Bishops at Jerusalem. chronology, have been none other than Maximin, would ordain whichever of the two he thought most worthy of the dignity for which they were selected. They were arrested, by the vigilance of the Roman prefect, as Persian spies. Kam-Jesus, with his host, was crucified: Achadabues made his escape to Jerusalem, and was there ordained-as we should now speak-on letters dimissory from the bishop of Antioch. But the imminent dangers by which this journey was beset induced the bishop of Antioch to abdicate his right of ordination; and thus the see of Seleucia became autocephalus. How far this step opened the door to the heresies by which the Catholicate of Chaldæa was afterwards infected; how far it was one of those necessary concessions which, if not granted to entreaty, will be taken violently, are questions which we need a better history of these early times to determine. Achadabues appears to have held his dignity for fifteen years: he was succeeded by Shachlupha: whose pontificate of twenty years was equally glorious to himself, and beneficial to the Church. 33. The succession at Jerusalem again presents a mere catalogue of names'. To write of Cassian, Publius, Maximus, Julian, Caius, Symmachus, Caius II., Julian II., Capito, Maximus II., Antoninus, Valens, Dolichianus, must be to write of many a glorious athlete of JESUS CHRIST, of great things done and suffered for His sake, of the increase of the faith, and the edification of the Church: but the fifty years occupied by their episcopates are unmarked by any recorded event in the annals of the Church. The 1 These Bishops are known from the Chronicon of Eusebius, and his H. E. v. 12. Of the separate dates of each, we find from this writer that Capito's episcopate lasted till the consulate of Maternus and Bradua, A.D. 185; while Epiphanius (Hæres. 66. 20) tells us that the episcopate of Caius II. ended in the 8th year of Verus (A.D. 168); Maximus II. to A.D. 176; Dolichianus to A. D. 180. So un certain are these dates, it is fortunate that they are equally unimportant. The first Caius is also called Gaianus, and Capito is sometimes named Apion. Boschius doubts whether Maximus II. be not the same who is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on the 8th of May, with the title of Confessor. He does not seem mentioned in the Menæa. successor of Dolichianus, Narcissus, has left a more distinguished memory. deciman versy. 34. In the year 198, the question of Easter, never yet Quartosettled, again vexed the Church. The greater part of the Controchurches in Asia observed it on the 14th day of the moon, whatever day that might be: the West kept it by the same rule as that which now appropriates to it the Sunday. The question had lately assumed a practical importance at Rome, where the schism of Blastus had principally based itself on this question, and S. Victor, who then held the chair of S. Peter, requested the celebration of councils through the whole Church, in order that, if possible, the question might be settled at once and for ever. Among the prelates to whom he wrote was Theophilus of Cæsarea1-and under his presidency, and that of S. Narcissus of Jerusalem, a synod was held in the former city. It is singular that the only detailed account we have of the acts of this assembly has been preserved to us by our own Bede in his treatise on the Vernal Equinox; and there have not been wanting learned men who have denied its genuineness. But it was likely that s. Theoin a country where the Paschal controversy raged so long and Cæsarea. furiously as in our own, a document of this kind should have been preserved with more than usual care: while the ecclesiastical intercourse between Britain and the East adds a still greater probability to the authenticity of the document. To me, however, its acts seem to have the very appearance of genuineness, apart from every other consideration; and I shall therefore insert them. In the first place, I would observe that the church of Jerusalem had, in all probability, symbolized with the Jews in observing the fourteenth day of the moon, during the line of bishops of the Circumcision. But nothing is more likely than that, in disconnecting itself as far as possible from the Jews, that church should have adopted the Western and more distinctively Christian Easter:whether Cæsarea had preceded or anticipated Jerusalem in the change, we have no data to determine. Ven. Bede speaks 1 V. Bede gives the acts of the Council in his Commentarius de Equi noctio Vernali. Baronius transcribes philus of Acts of the Council of of the letter of S. Victor, as if that pontiff had appointed Theophilus his legate for the convocation of the Church: with how little accuracy, the celebrated reply of Polycrates, who had received a similar letter, may sufficiently show. Of the other prelates present we only know the names of two,-Cassius of Tyre, and Clarus of Ptolemais. The Acts, as given by Bede, run thus: 35. "When all that multitude of priests had assembled, the bishop Theophilus produced the authority sent to himself by Pope Victor, and explained the task which had been enjoined them. The bishops said unanimously: Unless we first investigate in what way the world was created in the beginning, we cannot satisfactorily ordain anything respecting the observance of Easter. The bishops therefore said: What day should we believe to have been the first, except the Lord's Day? Theophilus said: Prove what you declare. The bishops replied according to the authority of Scripture: The evening and the morning were the first day; then the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh; in which seventh day GOD rested from all his works; and which day He called the Sabbath. Since, therefore, the Sabbath is the last day of the week, what except the Sunday can be the first? 36. "Theophilus the bishop said: You have proved that the Lord's Day is the first ;-what say you with respect to the time of year? We usually reckon four seasons, spring, summer, autumn and winter. Which of these was first made? The bishops answered, Spring. Theophilus the bishop said, Prove what you say. And they answered, It is written: Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-trees yielding fruit after his kind; but this takes place in spring. Theophilus said: When do you believe the world to have been created? In the beginning, middle, or end of the year? The bishops replied; In the equinox on the 25th of March. Theophilus the bishop said: Prove what you say. And they answered: It is written that GOD made the light and called it Day; and made the darkness and called it Night: and divided equally between the light and the darkness. Theophilus said: You have proved with regard to the day and the year; what do you believe about the moon? Was it created by GOD a crescent, or full, or waning? The bishops answered: Full. And he: Prove what you say. They answered: And GOD made two great lights, and set them in the firmament of heaven: the greater light for the beginning of the day: the lesser light for the beginning of the night: this could not have been unless the moon were full. We have therefore investigated the manner in which the world was created: that is, on Sunday, in the vernal equinox, on the 25th day of March, and at the full moon. 37. "Theophilus said: We must now discuss the manner in which we ought to celebrate Easter. The bishops said: Is it possible to pass by the Lord's Day, so as not to celebrate Easter on it, when it has been sanctified by so many and such benedictions? The bishop Theophilus said: Tell me what benedictions it has received, that I may write them. The bishops said: Its first benediction was that on this day the darkness was removed and the light was made. Its second, that the people were liberated from the land of Egypt, as from the darkness of sin, by means of the Red Sea, as by the fountain of baptism. Its third benediction, that on the same day celestial food, namely manna, was given to men. Its fourth, that Moses commanded the people, Let this day be observed by you. Its fifth, that which is written in the 117th Psalm, They came about me like bees, and are extinct, even as the fire among the thorns. For he speaks of the Resurrection of the Lord, when he says, This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it, even to the horns of the altar. Its sixth benediction is that the Lord on that day arose. You see then that the day of the Lord's Resurrection ought most emphatically to coincide with Easter. 38. "Theophilus said: God commanded Moses respecting the time on this wise: This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: keep the Passover therein. Therefore all its thirty days were consecrated to the Lord. The bishops said: We have already replied that the world began at the equinox on the 25th of March: and we read that the days from the 25th of March to the 24th of April were consecrated. Theophilus said: Would it not be impious that the Passion of the Lord, the mystery of such a sacrament, should be excluded from these limits? For the LORD suffered on the 22nd of March, on the night of which He was betrayed by the Jews, and rose again on the 26th, How then should these three days be excluded from the limit? All the bishops said: The time of this Sacrament should in no wise be excluded: but those three days should be included within the limit above mentioned." Importance 39. The care with which the records of this Council were of their acts. preserved in Britain, where the Quartodeciman controversy raged more fiercely and for a longer period than in any other portion of the Church, sufficiently shows its importance, and the esteem in which the prelates who composed it were held. The violence of Victor, his threatened excommunication of the bishops of Asia Minor, and the final settlement of the question at Nicæa, are not matters on which it is necessary for me at present to enlarge. How long Theophilus survived the synod, we have no means of ascertaining:—he is reckoned by the Western Church among the saints'. His coadjutor in the Council of Cæsarea, S. Narcissus, stands forth as one of the more prominent heroes of those early times. S. Narcis sus, Patr. of XXX. 2 40. We find him presiding over the Church of JeruJerusalem salem with great reputation towards the close of the second century. On an Easter Eve it happened that the oil for the lamps in the church failed, and the people were distressed by the occurrence. "Draw water," said Narcissus to one of the acolytes, "from yonder well," pointing at the same time to one within the precincts of the building, "and bring it to me." He prayed over it, and then commanded the bystanders to pour it, with earnest faith, into the lamps: it was at once converted into oil. A portion of this oil was not unnaturally preserved among the treasures of the Church; and was seen, as we are informed by Eusebius, by several of 1 S. Hieronym. de Script. Ecclesiast. 43; Niceph. Callistus, Iv. 19, 36. He is celebrated in the Roman Martyr ology on the 5th of May. 2 Euseb. H. E. vi. 9. 3 Tillemont, Vol. III. p. 178. |